The Rogue Reaper (Sword Art Online)

Part 10: Eyes of Scarlet

Noct steeled himself for battle. Someone had hired a hit on him. The arrow-shaped cursor over Lovino's head glowed bright red in the lightless hall. How long it's been since this young girl had earned her bloody mark was something he wondered, but at the rate the situation was deteriorating, he might not find out. He had anticipated a fight, but not with the information dealer herself.

Information broker and assassin – it was an uncommon combination of professions.

"Don't kill her. I need information," Noct said, tossing Nelchael a paralysis poison from his belt pouch. "...so leave her alive, or you're not getting paid."

"Yeah, yeah, I hear ya," said the sellsword, idly spinning his sword by its chain. "It's not really my style, but whatever pays... hmph!"

Without warning, Nelchael flung his sword at Lovino. The blade screamed through the air as it shot towards Lovino, whose tired-looking eyes suddenly gleamed- and the thrown blade missed its mark, piercing only thin air.

"Disappeared?!" Nelchael said, retracting his weapon. "Where did she-"

Mere moments after vanishing, Lovino appeared out of the shadows behind him in a wispy cloud of black smoke with her katana raised in both hands.

"Predictable," she intoned.

There was a sickening ripping sound as the katana slashed into the back of the mercenary's neck, leaving a red tear in his cape's black texture and his HP bar with 40 percent less than it had before. He cried out in pain, hitting the ground hard.

She knows «Shadowstep»?! Noct realized too late, rushing to cover Nelchael. He knew of the existence of the «Hidden Skill», but had never heard of anyone who actually managed to obtain it, unlike the well-known but still rare Unique Skills «Dual Blades» or «Holy Sword», until now. "This could be tougher than I thought..." he muttered.

Noct bent low and activated «Rage Spike», kicking off the ground and extending his sword out in front of him. The assassin girl quickly ducked under his sword's path, and brought her katana back as Noct passed over her.

I missed?! She wasn't even looking! He braced himself for the counter attack.

Lovino slashed upward, the light effect of the «Ukifune» skill drawing a crescent arc in the air. Noct gasped as he was knocked high into the air, becoming momentarily helpless as he found himself nearly able to peer over the tops of the maze's walls.  A second later she appeared above him in another poof of smoke, her katana already glowing and poised to strike again. Noct's blade swung up to deflect Lovino's, but her blade was faster, and the katana cut him with a direct hit on his torso, sending him crashing back to the ground.

Noct's entire body protested as he agonizingly picked himself up. He glanced to the top left corner of his vision; that combo had just taken out close to half of his HP. A few metres away, Nelchael was back on his feet, doing his best to make a counterattack but was slowly being pushed back as he fended off blows from Lovino. Nelchael wasn't cracking any jokes now; the assassin's ability to instantly disappear was forcing him to be more cautious than he wanted to be. "An annoying situation", he'd probably call it, once- or if- they got out of here.

A grin crept onto Noct's face. Whether Lovino was a target for judgement or not, what a fight this was. It'd been too long since he had a real challenge, a fight against an equally strong opponent, without that stupid «Madness» crap Mortem used.

Noct rushed at Lovino's back, glowing blade held at his side. Lovino had slid under Nelchael's «Horizontal» and winded him with the hilt of her weapon, following up with a upwards «Slant» that dropped him to one knee. His HP was in the mid-yellow zone now. Nelchael steadied himself with one hand against the wall. Noct could see sweat dripping down his face by the light of the ensconced torch next to him.